Biggles and the Rescue Flight [Import] [Paperback]

W E Johns (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: RED FOX BOOKS (RAND); New Edition edition (February 4, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 009993860X
• ISBN-13: 978-1862302259
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 0.5 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,659,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooray for Biggles -- Pioneer Fighter Pilot, April 16, 2011

By 

John Gough "John Gough - Deakin University" (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Biggles The Rescue Flight (Paperback)

When I was about 10 I started reading W.E. Johns' long series of "Biggles" books, not that I have succeeded in reading them all.

(Later I read a few of his other character series, such as "Gimlet" the commando, and "Worrals" of the Womens' Air Auxilliary Force, or WAAF. Johns also wrote science fiction stories about a hero called "King" who had adventures in outerspace. Johns's work was a model for other children's writers, such as the Australian adult and children's author Ivan Southall, who had a "Biggles"-like hero "Simon Black". In Southall's case, with the exception of "Simon Black in Coastal Command" based on Southall's personal experience, his later children's books are far superior -- outstanding -- and as good as his early adult non-fiction war-books.)

Some of the Biggles stories are set between World War I and II, and are adventures of Biggles when he was working in a flying cargo company or in a this-plane-to-hire company (there is a technical word for this that eludes me).

Some were set in World War II, with Biggles in RAF Spitfires and many other planes, in England, and Burma, and many other places.

Some were set after World War II, when Biggles worked in the air-section of Interpol or similar forces, often battling foes on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

(Biggles often found himself battling a moriarty-like nemesis, Erich von Stalhein, a Prussian, then a Nazi, and later an East German Communist. But eventually they "bury the hatchet" -- and that is another story.)

For me the best "Biggles' stories were set in World War I -- the era that Johns knew personally, as a scout (pursuit, fighter) pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, on the Western Front.

With minor adjustments for a juvenile audience (no naughty nights off in dens of vice: and lemonade is drink of choice), Johns tells it like it was.

These Biggles stories can be read alongside the biographies of Micky Mannock, and the memoirs Ira ("Taffy") Jones, and the histories of World War I combat flying. These Biggles books ring true.

(I have years ago published an article on the "intrepid birdmen" of World War I.)

"The Rescue Flight" is one of these classic World War I Biggles stories, although Biggles himself appears late in the action, and not as a main character.

The central story is about a young chap, at the end of his Secondary schooling, but not yet called up for military service.

He hears that his older brother, a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps in France, has been shot down, but not killed.

Both brothers have spent pre-war holidays in France, and speak fluent German and French.

They have discussed plans for the older one being shot down. He would escape, if possible, or evade capture, and use his language skills to make his way to a particular large field in France, and wait as long as possible, hoping that, according to the plan, a British plane could land in the field and rescue him: hence the title.

The younger brother has already learned to fly.

(Many adventurous lads took private lessons at this time: indeed, before military flight instructors were invented later during the war, airmen were recruited as pilots only if they already knew how to fly. It is striking that many elements of this novel fit with reality.)

Dressed in his older brother's spare uniform, and with his (non-existent) military identification papers conveniently unavailably "in transit", the younger brother succeeds in masquerading as a ferry pilot, and takes a new plane across the Channel to one of the RFC airfields.

He proceeds then to put the plan for the RESCUE FLIGHT into action.

I will omit the twists and climaxes that ensue -- including the appearance of Biggles himself.

What is remarkable is that evasion was, indeed, a common practice in World War I and II. Moreover, in both wars, it was also common for Allied personnel (including spies) to be flown over the lines and covertly (landed these days we would say "inserted") behind enemy lines -- and retrieved (rescued, extracted) later, when possible.

This is NOT a true story. No Biggles book is.

But amongst Johns' large output, this is one of his best.

Despite it being a novel for young readers, published in 1939 on the brink of World War II, Johns presents courage under fire in realistic ways: fear, wounds, blood, fire -- no punches are pulled.

Highly recommended.

John Gough -- Deakin University -- [...]

5.0 out of 5 stars DVD watcher, November 28, 2011

By 

DVDwatcher - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Biggles and the Rescue Flight (Paperback)

I have really enjoyed the Biggles books, and enjoyed this one as well. They always left me wanting to read more. They are an easy read. Written by a WWI pilot who said truth was stranger than fiction, I'm sure the author has based a lot of things on true incidents. The books have made me want to read more on WWI pilots.